Future Imperfect (episode)
---- After an away mission to Alpha Onias III interrupts Commander Riker's birthday party, the first officer suddenly awakens in sick-bay sixteen years in the future where he is the captain of the Enterprise and about to negotiate a peace treaty with the Romulan Star Empire. Summary :"Captain's log, stardate 44286.5. The ''Enterprise is conducting a security survey of the Onias sector near the Neutral Zone. Despite our proximity to the Romulan territory, the mission has been quiet and uneventful.'' The detects unusual readings from an M-Class planet near the Neutral Zone. Captain Picard sends Commander Riker to lead an away team to investigate whether the Romulans are involved. The mission is aborted after the surface unexpectedly fills with methane gas. The away team falls unconscious and is beamed up. Riker awakens in sickbay. He learns that he is now sixteen years into the future when Dr. Crusher explains to him that he is recovering from a virus he picked up on an away mission sixteen years ago. This virus has caused a form of amnesia, destroying all his memories from the moment he became infected to the present. Riker tries to piece together what has happened in the sixteen years since that away mission. He is now captain of the Enterprise, a position he has held for the past nine years. As he enters the bridge, he is pleased to see that Data is now his first officer. He is also surprised to see that his helm officer is a Ferengi ensign. Captain Riker temporarily places the Enterprise on alert when a Romulan warbird decloaks. He is then informed that the warbird was expected. The Enterprise opens communications, and Admiral Picard appears on screen. Admiral Picard and Ambassador Tomalak have arrived to sign a peace treaty between the Romulan Empire and the Federation. Captain Riker has been a key figure in these negotiations. Riker also learns that he has a son named Jean-Luc, after the admiral. While Riker talks with his son, the young boy mentions his mother. Later, Riker tries to access images of his late wife, and he realizes that he is not in the future. The computer shows him an image of Minuet, a woman who never really existed. She was merely a holodeck creation. Riker goes to the bridge to tell everyone that he has discovered the lie. He confronts his first officer, who cannot complete computations as fast as the real Data would. In fact, Riker catches Data saying "can't" instead of "cannot," immediately calling him out for using a contraction when the real Data would not. Riker demands to know the truth. It seems that this has all been a holodeck fantasy put on by the Romulans for their own purposes. The holo-images vanish, and Riker finds himself with "Jean-Luc", who identifies himself as Ethan, apparently the only real character whose likeness was used for the holo-character of Jean-Luc, who helps him escape from his would-be Romulan captors. Eventually, Ethan slips up by referring to "Ambassador Tomalak" when Tomalak in reality was only a Romulan captain. Riker realizes that he's still in a fantasy and orders the boy to end it. The Romulan ship disappears, leaving Riker with Ethan in a large cave-like structure. The boy reveals that he was stranded here by his parents intentionally to save his life, and given technology up to the level of a sophisticated holodeck. He has lured Riker into this because of his desperate need for a surrogate parent. Riker agrees to take him back to the Enterprise. The boy then shows his true identity as an insectoid child named "Barash". Just before transporting up to the ship, Riker says, "to me you will always be Jean-Luc." Memorable Quotes "I'm running a level 1 diagnostic!" "For thirty hours? That would never take you more than four. You're incapable of that level of incompetence, Mr. La Forge!" : - Captain Riker to La Forge when he discovers the future is false "Shut up!" "I beg your pardon?" "I said shut up! As in close your mouth and stop talking." : - Captain Riker to Admiral Picard after he discovers the future is false "You don't have to stay here anymore. You don't have to be alone anymore." (Transforms from human to his true form) "My name is Barash." "To me, you'll always be Jean-Luc." : - Commander Riker and Barash Background Information Story and production * Brannon Braga recalled, "We've had some amazing pitches, but the most notable we ever heard was in 'Future Imperfect,' where the team came in and said we have a story where Riker wakes up from an accident fifteen years in the future... Riker has a son, is the captain of the ''Enterprise and has no idea what happened. Mike Piller said, 'Stop, we'll buy it. " (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) * The only major change to J. Larry Carroll and David Bennett Carren's pitch was the addition of the Romulan fantasy within a fantasy. Michael Piller commented, "''The first draft was a little flat after we got into the story, just like . You had a situation where you are into it and something strange is happening and yet it can't just turn out to be a dream at the end of the show because it's not satisfying. What you do is you get to the third act and you need to do something that moves the action forward. This is one of the best examples of the notion that you shouldn't censor yourself. I just talked and David Carren said, 'You mean that he thinks it's a real Romulan plot for an act?' and I said, 'That's not what I mean at all' – then I said, 'Stop, wait a minute, what if that's exactly what we do and play it out as a Romulan gag for an act.' That's what I think made that show work." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) * This episode's title is a play on words. "Future imperfect tense" or "past imperfect tense" are concepts in classical grammar. The false reality created by the alien for Riker was inaccurate (or imperfect) in ways that allowed him to find out what was going on. * The turbolift scene with Riker and Barash was added because the episode was running short. Carroll and Carren met with Rick Berman and Michael Piller to create a new scene the night before it was filmed. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) * Guest star Andreas Katsulas was not comfortable with his recurring role as Tomalak in this episode. "I felt much more comfortable when he was an incredible giant on the screen, just a face. Suddenly when I had to account for everything else, I didn't feel support and nothing was supporting what I was doing. I was happy not to recur unless it would have gone back to a screen character." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) * The song Riker plays on his trombone is called Misty. * The sets for the Romulan base in Barash's illusion were redresses of the Borg interiors from . (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) * Several items from this episode were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including a component from the Romulan holodeck. Continuity * This episode is uncannily prescient: ** Riker comments on the unlikelihood of a Ferengi ensign, though Nog became an ensign just seven years later in . ** A female Klingon appears as a Starfleet officer on board this version of the Enterprise. About four years after this episode airs, a female half-Klingon by the name of B'Elanna Torres works as a chief engineer of , a Starfleet vessel. ** This episode takes place sixteen years into Riker's future. This would be 2383, four years after the events seen in . Admiral Picard states that the peace talks with the Romulans originated in an event four years prior, the same time period as Nemesis. * This episode marks the first appearance of Alyssa Ogawa as a nurse in sickbay when Riker first wakes up in his fictional future. * Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) does not appear in this episode. Reception * Director Les Landau observed, "It was an opportunity for Jonathan to take charge of an episode and it just shows the dynamic quality of Riker to have to deal with not only having aged fifteen years, but to discover that you have a son and have been married and are captain of the ''Enterprise. Can you imagine waking up one day and finding out that you've skipped fifteen years on your CD? There were lots of tricks and false leads, and yet there was something universal about the theme of this alien at the end which was the embodiment of this little boy. The final moment where Riker sees this alien being in the caverns of this other world and says I will take you with me and you will always be a part of me, goes back to the basics of what Star Trek is all about. It's that caring for the human condition, love for the universal being. It sounds very esoteric and snobbish to talk this way, but that's when Star Trek is at its best." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) Video and DVD releases * Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 41, * UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 4.3, * As part of the TNG Season 4 DVD collection Links and references Starring *Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard *Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker Also starring *LeVar Burton as Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge *Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf *Gates McFadden as Doctor Beverly Crusher *Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi *Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data Guest stars *Andreas Katsulas as Tomalak *Chris Demetral as Jean-Luc/Ethan *Carolyn McCormick as Minuet (Min Riker) *Patti Yasutake as Alyssa Ogawa *Todd Merrill as Gleason *April Grace as Hubbell *George O'Hanlon, Jr. as a transporter chief *Dana Tjowander as Barash References Alpha Onias system; Alpha Onias III; Altarian encephalitis; Barash; class M; coma; compression attenuator; Curtis Creek; Curtis Creek program; ; [[IRW Decius|''Decius, IRW]]; Earth Outpost Station; Ferengi; fictional Starfleet uniform; Fornax Disaster; Greenburg, Mister; holodeck; hydrogen sulfide; ''Melbourne'', USS; methane; Miridian VI; Nelvana III; Onias sector; Outpost 23; Parrises squares; Romulan cruiser; Romulan Neutral Zone; Starfleet Command; sulfur dioxide; trombone; VISOR |next= }} de:Gedächtnisverlust (Episode) es:Future Imperfect fr:Future Imperfect it:Futuro imperfetto (episodio) ja:TNG:悪夢のホログラム nl:Future Imperfect pl:Future Imperfect Category:TNG episodes